The List
Chapter 3
By: Erynn*Alice
Gaylord sat across from me at lunch in some new restaurant across town that he swore was the newest thing to hit SoHo. We chatted about his love life for a little bit. He was ranting about "the dumbest pick-up line ever used by man on man". It was just a typical Gaylord lunch. Then I told him all about the list.
His eyes danced around the room, looking at different guys. He spotted a waiter and let his eyes settle. "Now, don't even see if that guy's on your list, Jacey baby." He leaned in. The waiter turned around and smiled, Gaylord gave a simple wave then smiled back at me. "He's gay. What does the list say about guys who are gay? Can't have them, because they're all mine...that's what I thought."
I rolled my eyes. "I think it's just understood that the man I'm supposed to marry is not gay."
He waved his hand at me and laughed. "Whatever, Jace, I'll need to have a little chat with Baelee. That girl needs to write in a gay clause in there. God knows you'd be falling in love with me if it wasn't 'understood'."
"Seriously, G, what am I supposed to do about this?" I leaned back in my chair. I needed advice. I needed guidance.
He sighed and picked up his water. "Now, Jace," he started after taking a sip. "Don't marry a man you don't love."
"I do love him! I love Eric, he's, he's, he's a really great guy."
He shook his head. "I see the way you act around him. You're not yourself, Jace. You need a guy who will make you more comfortable. A guy who isn't 'holier than thou'." He leaned in and stole my purse from across the table. He pulled out the list and began to scan it. "Ah, here's something for your viewing pleasure," he announced and gave me the list pointing to a certain number.
Item #10: You're comfortable with him. He doesn't care if you look like shit or if you look like a million dollars...because you always look good to him.
I sighed. Where was I going to find a guy like that? "This is impossible."
He shook his head. "No way. I am not going to let you give up on this. You've already gone this far." He leaned back and scanned the room yet again. "Plus, Jacey baby, you've found a trail, follow it." He was right. Billy had a couple of the items, who knew how many more he did have.
After lunch, Gaylord went back to work and I decided to take a trip into Manhattan to see Eric. The whole cab ride into the city, I stared at the list and picked at the leftovers of my salad from lunch.
Item #14: Takes you out for lunch...doesn't always give you advance warning, either.
There was another item Eric seemed to have slipped on. I never went out for lunch with him. It was always me and Baelee or Gaylord, but mostly I just went alone. Eating alone was something I began to like. People watching was one of my hobbies, so I decided to do it on my lunch break.
The cab pulled up right outside Epic Records. I knew a thing or two about Epic having interned there during college. I knew there were three high quality rehearsal rooms and two high quality recording studios. Now, Epic was a big record company that doesn't let just anyone record there. So Good Charlotte had to have something good going for them in order to obtain a space in the Epic building.
Four flights of stairs later, I stood outside the door of the recording studio. The door was slightly open. I knocked lightly and then walked in. There was some guy with kind of long black hair singing bits and pieces of a song. He was tattooed up and down. That was Benji, I remembered, he hardly looked the same without the spikes and make-up he had when I was shooting.
Eric didn't turn around, he was trying to listen.
Item #41: Never passes up a chance to give you a kiss, say 'hello', give you a hug, or whatever.
I sighed and sat in the chair next to him. He looked over and raised his eyebrows at me. He held his hand up asking me to stay quiet until Benji finished the song. I swiveled the chair around, Billy was sitting on the couch tuning his guitar. I smiled at him, and he waved me over towards him.
"Hey," He whispered when I sat down on the coffee table across from him. "What are you doing here?"
"I just wanted to see what was going on." He nodded. "I hardly recognized Benji without all the spikes."
He laughed. He had an infectious laugh. "I know. He looks almost clean-cut."
"Who?" Benji asked when he appeared in the room.
"You!" Billy pointed at his fellow guitarist. Benji shook his head and sat down next to Eric.
"What'd I do wrong?" I heard him ask Eric. I knew it'd be awhile before Eric remembered I was in the room. He went into detail about Benji's voice and his lyrics.
Billy kept looking at me, I could feel his eyes on me. I was looking at Eric, but transferred my focus over to Billy. "Did you take the rest of the day off or something?"
I shook my head. "No. I just decided to take a little trip down town. I'm sure my boss will raise hell tomorrow." I didn't just take a little trip down town, I was just following that trail Gaylord mentioned. "I hope I'm not disturbing anything."
"No. You're not. We're just trying to get the vocals in. Benji didn't want to be in the studio alone, so I came with. I'm glad you're here though, you're good company." Billy said, looking me straight in the eyes. I felt red come over my face and smiled.
Item 6: Tells you he likes you around, wishes you were there more, and never lets you leave his head when you're elsewhere.